Population growth in Ascension Parish means redistricting required for school board members – The Advocate

The Ascension Parish School Board has a new assignment after new census data show the parish grew by more than 18,000 residents in the last 10 years: to redraw the districts its board members represent.

While there are 11 board members, there are seven districts. Four of the districts have two members and three are single-member districts that have all served roughly the same amount of residents.

But growth in the parish has come mainly in and around Prairieville, meaning districts in the area are above the ideal population. And other districts, in the southern part of the parish and on the west bank, are below.

"The districts in the north end are gaining and those in the south end are losing population, so the district will have to reapportion," demographer Mike Hefner told board members at an Ascension Parish School Board workshop last week.

State law requires redistricting be completed six months after every census, said Hefner, chief demographer of Geographic Planning and Demographic Services in Duson.

Census data is usually released early in the year but this year was released in August, he said.

The formula for the ideal district population seems simple: divide the 2020 census count of 126,500 by the seven geographical districts.

But that, Hefner said, could pose a different problem as the seven-district plan now stands.

With the new census numbers, "if the geographical districts in the current seven-member plan are used to balance the population, the plan would put minority representation at a disadvantage, in two of the (single-member) districts, District 1 and District 3, that are now majority-minority," he said.

District 1, represented by Robyn Penn Delaney, is on Ascension's west bank. District 3, represented by Julie Blouin, is along the east bank.

"It is allowable under the Voting Rights Act to use multi-member districts up to the point where such a plan would reduce minority voting strength," Hefner said. "In the Ascension Parish School Boards election current configuration, this issue is avoided by having the two traditional majority-minority districts remain single seats, along with a third district."

"The remainder are dual member districts and have no impact on the minority voting strength of the other districts," he said.

The proper way to balance the population, according to Hefner, is to divide the population by the 11 seats that represent the seven geographic districts.

Hefner is presenting two options for the board to study.

One plan would modify the current seven-district plan that would preserve the two minority districts and double the population for those districts represented by two members.

The ideal population for a single-member district would be approximately 11,500. That of a dual-member district, about 23,000.

A second plan presents 11 single-member districts, still preserving the two minority districts.

"We want to make sure the areas are well represented," Hefner told board members. "That's the goal of this planning."

The next Ascension Parish School Board election for those districts will be in fall 2022.

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Population growth in Ascension Parish means redistricting required for school board members - The Advocate